14 Percent of U.S. Adults Can't Read

Live Science ^ | 01/10/09 | Robert Roy Britt

[presidio9]

About 14 percent of U.S. adults won't be reading this article. Well, okay, most people won't read it, given all the words that are published these days to help us understand and navigate the increasingly complex world.

But about 1 in 7 can't read it. They're illiterate.

Statistics released by the U.S. Education Department this week show that some 32 million U.S. adults lack basic prose literacy skill. That means they can't read a newspaper or the instruction on a bottle of pills.

The figures are for 2003, the latest year available. State and county results are available here.

"The crisis of adult literacy is getting worse, and investment in education and support programs is critical," said David C. Harvey, president and CEO of ProLiteracy, in response to the finding.

This is about jobs and the economy, Harvey said.

"More than 1 million people lost their jobs in 2008 and the new unemployment figures are the highest in 16 years," Harvey said. "A large number of the unemployed are low-skilled individuals who struggle with everyday reading, writing and math tasks. The administration wants to create new jobs

[WhistlingPastTheGraveyard]

My co-worker keeps a picture of 0bama on his desk. It’s creepy as hell.

[ritewingwarrior]

I have to agree with you there. I moved to the south 8 years ago. I don’t care who you know, doctors, lawyers, judges, businessmen, etc., in general, they are lacking in education and comprehension of vital issues. Sometimes I feel like I am in a sea of ignorance down here. No offense if you are from the south, there are exceptions to every generality.

[Gritty]

Maybe they can’t read, but they can watch Ophrah!

[Bubba_Leroy]

Don’t worry, ACORN votes for them.

[AEMILIUS PAULUS]

Reading is no longer necessary for many people. They can touch the little pictures on the computer screen.

[Raycpa]

I found that an adult is anyone over 16

http://nces.ed.gov/ssbr/pages/adultliteracy.asp?IndID=32#notes_002_top

Any one know what the heck basic prose literary skill is or am I in the 14%? This sure as heck doesn’t tell me anything:

Prose Literacy is defined as the knowledge and skills needed to perform prose tasks (i.e., to search, comprehend, and use information from continuous texts). Document Literacy is defined as the knowledge and skills to perform document tasks (i.e., to search, comprehend, and use information from noncontinuous texts in various formats). Please refer to page 2 of A First Look at the Literacy of America’s Adults in the 21st Century for more detailed information.

[yazoo]

“The crisis of adult literacy is getting worse, and investment in education and support programs is critical,” said David C. Harvey, president and CEO of ProLiteracy, in response to the finding.”

WRONG. Since every child is eligible to attend school the problem is not with lack of investment in schools. The problem is bad schools (and not because of lack of funding) and parents who just don’t give a damn about their kids.

[Mad Dawg]

53% cannot reason

And the remaining 62% can't think too good neither.

[wintertime]

If 14% of adults can indeed not read sufficiently, it is NOT, I repeat, NOT because of the failures of the school system.

It’s because of the failures of THEMSELVES. Bad schools are bad because of bad students.

The government schools are attempting to apply a model that works for intact and functional families. Well, Gee! This model probably isn't working for those children who do not fit the model. Duh!

Then the government does everything possible to see that these kids can NOT gain access to schools that DO have high rates of success. ( The KIPP schools are only one example.) Well! That is the teachers unions and government's fault!

It could be the academically successful child who is institutionalized for his education in government schools is actually succeed **IN SPITE*** of his government school, not because of it!

In interviewing parents ( homeschooled and institutional schooling) I have found that successful homeschoolers and parents with successful institutionalized children have almost **identical** home study habits. I conclude that 99% of what a child learns is due to his parents and his OWN efforts. The institutional school is merely sending home a curriculum and the child and parents are "afterschooling"!

So,.....The **only** way to reach children from dysfunctional families is to do one or both of the following:

*Teach the parents and child how to be better "afterschoolers". ( And, hold them accountable.)

* Duplicate in the institutional school what should be happening at home.

KIPP schools seem to be doing these two items above and having great success with even the most disadvantaged children imaginable. But the government teachers fight these schools with all the millions they've got!

As for the academically successful children ( who are doing 99$ of his real learning at home) maybe we should give them more freedom to do what they already are doing well. LEARN more independently.

Yes! It is the government school's fault for forcing children into a system that is guaranteed to fail, and at the same time retards the academically successful as well!

[yazoo]

“Wonder what the literacy rate of people who are/were homeschooled is?”

100%. The reason is not because the eduction is better (even though it usually is) but because the children have parents who are invested in their kids eduction.

[ThomasThomas]

"The crisis of adult literacy is getting worse, and investment in education and support programs is critical,"

Ok all you smart people out there. Tell how many of you can read and understand the income tax code. I am sure that adult literacy is a growing problem but I would also be weary of "facts" that show we must spend more money. Just be cause someone can't understand the tax code doesn't mean that they are illiterate.

I have worked with adult reading programs though my church. Just say no to more taxes.

[MARTIAL MONK]

We is all dumbies.

[Wilhelm Tell]

Schools got away from teaching phonics and the result is that many people never learned to read. Many other people can with difficulty read instructions and the like. I think the powers that be want semi-literate people who can follow simple directions but are not equipped to function independently.

[Uri’el-2012]

I guess they are counting the Illegal Aliens as Americans.

[Raycpa]

This helps some:

http://literacy.kent.edu/~nebraska/research/wlit.html

CONTEXT BASED

In September of 1993, the results of the National Adult Literacy Survey were released. Known as NALS, this research has resulted in debate about the profile of Literacy nationwide. The definition of Literacy measured by NALS consists of three scales: PROSE, DOCUMENT, AND QUANTITATIVE. Each of these scales considers levels of ability in terms of tasks, and each task is assigned a score. The higher the score, the greater the complexity of the task within the scale. For example: A Level One Prose task involves locating one piece of information in a sports article. Level Three, by comparison, requires one to read a news article and identify a sentence that provides intepretation of a situation. In contrast, Level 5, the highest level of Literacy in the Prose scale, requires one to perform tasks such as summarize two ways lawyers may challenge prospective jurors.

In the Document scale, a Level One task involves being able to sign your name or being able to enter background information on an application for a social security card. Level Three involves being able to use a bus schedule. Level Five involves mastery of tasks like using a table depicting information about parental involvement in a school survey to write a paragraph summarizing the extent to which parents and teachers agree.

The Quantitative scale ranges from Level One - totaling a bank deposit entry, to Level Four - using information stated in a news article to calculate the amount of money that should go to raising a child, to Level Five - determining the total cost of carpet to cover a room, using a calculator.

I’m sure many of you are familiar with these scales, and as you can see, the Levels represent a range of ability, which indicate a Level of Literacy.

No longer an ability to have or have not, Literacy is now measured on multiple levels in multiple areas. Literacy has become CONTENT SPECIFIC.

For example:

I worked for two years as a computer sales consultant. A good part of my job was to teach highly literate professionals how to speak and understand the language of computers. I worked with doctors and educators; CEOs and professors. Highly literate - awesome in some instances - but moving into the new technology required mastering a new language with new meanings. They were Illiterate within that context. Some even said so themselves. Other examples of CONTENT SPECIFIC Literacy are these pages from some books which I have at home:

1. The first overhead is the work of BLAKE-if we work at it long enough, we can figure out the words he is using, and possibly figure out what he is talking aobut.
2. The second overhead, on the other hand, is text from an educational measurement textbook. Some of you may be able to read this and know the meaning. I do not know what these words mean. I can read them and pronounce them based upon my knowledge of phonics and whole language learning. The meaning attached to these words is content specific-to statistics

[Mad Dawg]

The South is a big place. What part of the souf’ you talkin’ ‘bout, boy?

[yazoo]

“the south is being kept intentionally uneducated.”

I have absolutely no data to support or refute what you say, but my anecdotal evidence having migrated to the south from the north is that generally southerners are more educated and well read than their northern counterparts.

[Raycpa]

this is better;

Results for each type of literacy are reported using the following 4 levels
•
Below Basic:
o Indicates no more than the most simple and concrete literacy skills
o Ex: able to add the amounts on a bank deposit slip, able to find out what a
patient is allowed to drink before a medical test
•
Basic:
o Indicates skills necessary to perform simple and everyday literacy activities
o Ex: using a TV guide to find out what programs are on at a specific time,
comparing ticket prices for two events
•
Intermediate:
o Indicates skills necessary to perform moderately challenging literacy activities
o Ex: consulting reference materials to determine which foods contain a
particular vitamin, identifying a specific location on a map, calculating the
total cost of an order from a catalog
•
Proficient:
o Indicates skills necessary to perform more complex and challenging literacy
activities
o Ex: comparing viewpoints in two editorials, computing and comparing the
cost per ounce of food items, interpreting a table about blood pressure, age and
physical activity

http://www.mcae.net/NAALHighlights.pdf

[Slings and Arrows]

About 14 percent of U.S. adults won't be reading this article.

If it's printed in the New York Times a lot more than that won't be reading it.

[Mad_Tom_Rackham]

That’s OK, because poll workers were available to show them which boxes to check in order to vote for Obama and the Democrats.